Seikatsu
by Grilled Cheesby
Summary: Ichigo, after bonding with and then losing Aizen, is given the opportunity (aka forced) to go back in time to change what the future has wrought. Time Travel AU - Aizen/Ichigo pre-slash, implied slash. Pining. (Change the first war, to change the second.)
1. Change the first, to change the second

**ha. ha ha. im gonna be honest man, i dont know where the hell this monstrosity will go, but its gonna go somewhere...**

**Story Summary:** _Ichigo, after bonding with and then losing Aizen, is given the opportunity (aka forced) to go back in time to change what the future has wrought. Time Travel AU - Aizen/Ichigo pre-slash, implied slash. Pining._

**Chapter Summary:** _Preview of Ichigo's future, pains explained, and the thing that which forces Ichigo to change the past._

* * *

**Seikatsu**

* * *

_First Now..._

It's something else, staring into your own eyes and not being able to comprehend what you have become. Usually, you wake up one day and look in a mirror and realized that you've changed; something about your eyes is different from that last time you'd taken the time to look. For Ichigo, it's much more disconcerting.

He can almost feel the uncomprehending shock emanating from his friends behind him. He knows he's adding to it, the tenseness of his shoulders and the stutter in his breath creating a pulsing feeling as more and more people try to understand what exactly is going on. Because Ichigo is staring up at Aizen, hatred boiling in his veins, as the man turns to what appears to be Ichigo.

"You have the cannon set up?" Aizen asks nonchalantly, his voice calm.

"Yes, Aizen-sama," the man next to him answers, his voice just slightly deeper than Ichigo's. It causes Ichigo to twitch and scowl, his brow furrowing at this sudden doppelganger.

"Good," Aizen replies, taking a step closer to gently lay his hand upon the man's face. He keeps it there, caressing the tan skin gently. The other man stares back at him, unintimidated. Aizen eventually smirks slightly, chuckling as he takes his hand away. "You will have to tell me your story someday, _Seikatsu_. I've been very patient. How you managed to accomplish all of this on your own..."

"Yes, Aizen-sama," the man replies just as dryly, raising an eyebrow at the man's chuckle.

Aizen leaves without another comment, the man he called Seikatsu stepping towards them with a familiar scowl falling on his face.

"Who the hell are you suppose to be?" Ichigo grunts out, his jaw clenched tightly as he grinds his teeth together to keep from saying more.

The man snorts, drawing both of his blades to settle in front of him, his demeanor relaxed as he looks them all over. "I am Futatabi," he replies. "I am Aizen's adviser."

"His adviser?" Urahara inquires from Ichigo's left, the man lifting his hat up to meet Futatabi's gaze. It's an odd thing to call yourself 'again', but Ichigo supposes he can't really make any comments. Besides, everyone is surely wondering the same thing Ichigo is; who is this man to Aizen?

Futatabi's lips twitch slightly, like Ichigo's own do when he fights back a smile, before flattening out. Futatabi shrugs in response before admitting, "I'm also his personal guard."

Urahara doesn't say anything in reply and Ichigo can see his eyes narrow in his periphery.

Futatabi finally breaks from his straight faced persona, a mischievous smirk falling upon his face. "Emphasis on _personal_."

Before Ichigo even has the chance to let the crawling feeling of disgust worm its way up his spine, Kukaku's cannon goes off in the distance. Ichigo shouts, his heart pounding, but Futatabi is already pushing back Urahara and Yoruichi as they try to make their way past him.

"I'm afraid I can't let you do whatever you think you need to," Futatabi says, pushing the two shinigami back. "Aizen-sama has plans that must come to fruition."

"Why the hell do you have my face?" Ichigo finally asks, the question burning against his tongue as he glares at the man before him.

Futatabi takes him in once more, his eyes looking Ichigo up and down as he assesses him. He tilts his head, much like a cat would when trying to understand something that is going on in front of them. After a moment, Futatabi let's out a breath, raising one arm to unhook the cloak that had been covering him. As it flutter to the ground, Ichigo feels himself swallow at the sight revealed before him.

His chest is battered in scars, some of them rather uncomfortable to look at. Some Ichigo recognizes, which is disconcerting, but others Ichigo does not, yet can imagine how much they hurt when they occurred. What grabs his attention, however, is the hollow hole in the middle of the man's chest. It's eerie, seeing something missing from a body that looks so much like his own.

"I have my own face," Futatabi finally replies, his gaze boring into Ichigo. "In fact, I'd even go as far to say it was mine first."

Ichigo doesn't get time to think because suddenly Futatabi is in front of him, his golden eyes glowing right in front of Ichigo's own.

"**Let me tell you a story, Kurosaki Ichigo**," Futatabi says, his voice growling as black reiatsu fills Ichigo's vision.

* * *

_Now Then..._

"The irony is truly amazing," Aizen chuckles, blood trickling out of his mouth as Ichigo cradles the man's head in his lap.

"Shut up," Ichigo scolds him, clutching the man even tighter than before. He can feel his eye stinging and he hates that it's Aizen of all people that has brought him so very low.

"You once gave up your powers to see me dead," Aizen continues, ignoring Ichigo's sharp words. "Now here I am, dying, and you look ready to shed tears."

"I told you to shut up," Ichigo chokes, tears falling freely. The hole in Aizen's chest is slightly larger than Ichigo's fist and it bleeds freely. The bloody mess of what was once Yhwach is somewhere off to Ichigo's right, but he can't bring himself to really give much of a shit about the now dead Father of the Quincy.

"I'm not a good man," Aizen says, grabbing Ichigo's attention. His eyes are blurry from the tears, but he does his best to focus on Aizen's paling face. "I would just have used your weakened state to get what I wanted."

"Duh," Ichigo responds, sobbing slightly.

"I wouldn't have been happy about it," Aizen confesses, giving Ichigo a grim smile. "Against all odds, I've grown rather fond of you, Kurosaki Ichigo. You gave me a brief glimpse of the life I wished I had been righteous enough to live."

"I don't even know what you're going on about," Ichigo chokes out, cupping the man's face in his hands.

"_Seikatsu_," Aizen gurgles out, fresh blood building up in his mouth as he hacks violently. "Livelihood. You are the life, while I am the death."

"You don't even know what the hell you're saying," Ichigo whispers, grief washing over him as Aizen's eyes started to dull.

"Maybe so, Ichigo," Aizen says, his eyes drifting towards the sky above them. "I still wonder-what would life have been like if I had had you at my side?"

"You have to stop talking so much," Ichigo whispers, wiping at some of the blood escaping Aizen's mouth.

"I would have cherished you," Aizen mutters, closing his eyes. "I wish I would have..."

Ichigo cries freely, his tears dripping down off of his face and mingling with the blood that coats the entirety of Aizen's front. "You would have used me and then threw me away when I no longer had a use," Ichigo chokes out bitterly, gently laying Aizen's body onto the cold ground beneath them.

Ichigo steps over Aizen's body, straight into a Garganta, before falling onto his bed face first. He doesn't care that he's covering his bed in Aizen's blood. He doesn't care that he's sobbing like a child. He doesn't care that he doesn't know who survived Yhwach's attack. All he can think about are Aizen's parting words, his dark smile, and his false promises. Ichigo curses him in his head, ashamed that Aizen, of all people, is the person who has brought him to hysterics.

It is Aizen's death that makes Ichigo wish he could change anything.

* * *

_Ichigo knows he's dreaming because it is Aizen standing across from him, smiling serenely at him. He's never seen any expression like it on Aizen's face, so Ichigo finds himself tensing up at the unfamiliar feeling it sends through him._

_Ichigo has spent the past week interacting with the people who survived the Quincy War, but he could never let himself meet their eyes. He had clutched his sisters to his chest, had gripped his father's shoulder fiercely, and had even given a brief smile in Urahra's direction, but he had not been able to bring himself to look into sorrow filled eyes._

_The fact that he finally forces himself to do this when a dream version of Aizen confronts him, does not escape him._

_"Hello, Kurosaki Ichigo," Aizen says, his voice gentle as he takes a few steps forward. His eyes are warm, contrasting the dullness that had overtaken them in death. It sends a sharp pang though his chest._

_"I'm dreaming," Ichigo replies, physically feeling how tired he truly is. Seeing an unharmed Aizen in front of him, his demeanor open and fond, is driving Ichigo to a panic attack._

_"Mostly," Aizen shrugged with a smile, finally stopping in front of Ichigo. He reached out, ignoring Ichigo's flinch as he gently rested a hand on Ichigo's right shoulder. Ichigo felt himself stop breathing as he looked into Aizen's eyes._

_They were no longer brown; they were purple._

_The hand on his shoulder suddenly clenched down, Aizen's visage slowly melted away, leaving a softly smiling woman in his place._

_"Kurosaki Ichigo," she repeats, her words are softly spoken, while her grip remains harsh._

_"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo grinds out, suddenly finding himself unable to move._

_"We were once known as Kyōka Suigetsu," she tells him, her smile never leaving her face. "We were also once known as the Hōgyoku."_

_Ichigo wants to start at their answer, but his limbs are frozen under their steady hand. He can't leave their gaze either, his head feeling fuzzy as his heard starts to ring._

_"He thought of you often," they tell him fondly, their grip lightening just slightly. "His wish, at the end, was one we would've granted had we been able."_

_"At the end?" he gasps out, feeling his legs shake under an unknown gravity. He doesn't remember thinking the question, nor figuring out how he moved his mouth when everything else refuses to budge, but he can feel it echo throughout his entire being._

_"His wish was simply that he would have known better," they answer him. "That he would've known to cherish you sooner."_

_Ichigo feels himself break inside, that same desperate cloying feeling attaching itself to his throat, just like it had when he held Aizen's dying body in his arms. They spent weeks fighting together, trying to defeat Yhwach. They were the only two strong enough in the end to get close enough to him to truly land any blows. It had created a bond between them, one that Ichigo had taken for granted until Aizen's dying breath left his body._

_"We were dying, finally fading, when your soul called out to us, Kurosaki Ichigo," they tell him, dragging him away from the grief slowly swallowing him whole. "You made a wish so powerful that we found it in ourselves to break from Aizen before he truly faded away. We are here, Ichigo, to grant your wish."_

_"My wish?" Ichigo asks in a daze, his eyesight fading in and out as his knees tremble in an effort to stay standing._

_"To change anything," they respond, their grip shifting into a harsh shove as Ichigo falls backwards. "Change the outcome of the first war, Kurosaki Ichigo, and you will change the outcome of the second."_

When Ichigo opens his eyes again, the sand of Hueco Mundo greets his vision. His head is fuzzy, but the parting words of the combination of Kyōka Suigetsu and the Hōgyoku echo in his head.

Change the first war, to change the second.

How in the hell is he supposed to do that?

* * *

**how the hell is he supposed to do that? lol**

**so this was originally part of an idea i had for the bleach big bang, but then i didnt sign up in time, and i put this idea on the back burner. i have the entire plot basically planned out, but the details are fuzzy as fuck because i 10/10 dont have a good grasp on what is and is not bleach canon.**

***shrug***


	2. II

**ha. ha ha. so i guess here's a second chapter? don't expect there to be updates very often, i dont know what this story is at the moment, but i got a spark of an idea and knew i had to add it to the fic immediately**

**Story Summary:** _Ichigo, after bonding with and then losing Aizen, is given the opportunity (aka forced) to go back in time to change what the future has wrought. Time Travel AU - Aizen/Ichigo pre-slash, implied slash. Pining._

**Chapter Summary:** _Ichigo is startled by several revelations and finally starts building a foundation for plans in the future._

* * *

**Seikatsu**

* * *

Ichigo stares at the little indigo marble in his hand. It feels like glass, hard and shiny where it lays innocently against his palm. It's not innocent, however. Ichigo doesn't know if others would be able to feel it, but he can sense a consciousness within the orb. He would bet anything that the little marble that he's got in his possession is the mixture of whatever remained of Kyōka Suigetsu and the Hōgyoku after Ichigo's abrupt arrival in the past. Palming it, Ichigo frowns slightly, struggling to come to a decision, before he scoffs and roughly sticks the orb in a pocket on the inside of his shitagi. While he can sense them inside the orb, they are but a flicker of the reiatsu he knew they once possessed. They are weak and unable to reach out to him, which means they likely wouldn't be able to tell him what exactly he's supposed to do to stop the first war.

Biting his lip, Ichigo stands from his sitting position and turns in a slow circle, intently eyeing the landscapes in the distance. He has no idea where he is in Hueco Mundo, only that he's surrounded by a lot of sand; which doesn't tell him much. Ichigo scowls, brow furrowing as he tries to find his bearings.

_Try to sense Las Noches_, a voice snaps, causing Ichigo to flinch.

_Zangetsu_, Ichigo sputters in his head, surprise racing through him as he is forcibly ripped into his inner world. The first thing he notices is the harsh rain that assaults his skin, wind whipping around his frame as he stumbles against the onslaught. The second thing is the image of a sneering Tensa Zangetsu, blue and white eyes narrow and sharp as he glares at Ichigo.

"This is your fault," Zangetsu grits out, arms crossed and shoulders slightly hunched.

"I didn't do anything!" Ichigo immediately denies, grimacing when a cold wind races past him, causing a shiver to go up his spine.

"If you don't get a hold of yourself, you're going to flood your inner world," Zangetsu snaps back, grimacing as he adds, "Again."

Ichigo simply glares in reply, doing his best to ignore the pain in his chest at the reminder. The last time his world was flooded he had been close to giving up all hope of stopping Aizen. He sees the irony in the fact that he's close to going through the same situation again, only this time it's because Ichigo couldn't save him.

The rain doesn't let up at his silent acknowledgement, but the wind does stop howling just a bit, though it doesn't let up enough that it isn't still whipping Ichigo's shihakushō every which way.

"You look odd," Zangetsu states, some of his previous ire draining from his voice.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asks, giving his zanpakutō spirit a cautious look.

"You look like your currently using Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō."

Ichigo stiffens, panic sweeping over him as he looks down at himself. When he had been outside of his inner world, he had looked as he did in the future. He had only been in this form once and he can feel himself start to shake at the idea of it. The cold wind around them couldn't cause Ichigo's heart to freeze over like the consequences of using Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō could. "Am I-?" Ichigo cuts himself off, swallowing against the sudden dryness of his throat.

Tensa Zangetsu stays silent for a moment, eyes sweeping up and down as he takes in Ichigo's dripping form. "No," he finally says slowly, "I'm still here, separate from you. You aren't embodying anything."

Ichigo doesn't hide his relieved breath, a sigh that leaves his body leaning forward slightly in relief. "So what's up with the appearance change?"

"I have no idea," Zangetsu answers blankly, his eyes stopping and staring at a spot on Ichigo's chest.

"What?" Ichigo asks, hesitant.

"Take off the bandages on your chest," Zangetsu says, his eyes never straying from their focused stare.

Ichigo is suddenly terrified, but he follows the order nonetheless, his hands almost numb from anticipation as he methodically unwinds the bandages to reveal his face and his torso. Zangetsu's expression never changes, his gaze never wavering, as he soaks in exactly what he's seeing.

"I think you're an arrancar?" Zangetsu finally guesses, absentmindedly tilting his head in consideration.

"Excuse you?" Ichigo sputters, almost dropping the bandages before clutching them tightly in his hands.

Zangetsu rolls his eyes briefly before gesturing towards Ichigo's chest with a halfhearted wave. "Look at you. Those markings are eerily similar to your Vasto Lorde's markings. And Ichigo-you have a hole in your chest."

Ichigo stares at his zanpakutō spirit, mind racing to catch up, before he violently snaps his neck down, eyes darting back and forth as he takes in his chest. There's a hollow hole in the middle, red strips jutting out and racing across his body. Some lead up and past his line of vision and he hysterically wonders if they reach his face or not. "I have a _hole_. In my _chest_."

"You don't feel like an arrancar," Zangetsu tells him, shrugging in reply when Ichigo looks at him with an incredulous stare. "What? We know what a hollow with shinigami powers feels like. You ain't it."

Ichigo just shakes his head, swallowing loudly as he hastily wraps the bluish-gray bandage back around his upper body, not stopping until he has his face safely hidden away.

"Besides," Zangetsu adds, seemingly not as bothered as Ichigo wishes he would be, "I don't think arrancar have zanpakutō spirits. Their resurrección releases are just them gaining access to powers they had as a hollow."

Ichigo chooses to ignore Tensa Zangetsu's speculations, instead focusing on the feeling of his breathing, his chest rising and falling as he tries to figure out how he doesn't have a punctured lung with a hole going through his body.

"This is the way it must be."

Ichigo's eyes snap open, watching as Tensa Zangetsu stiffens and then hisses at the sudden appearance of a familiar being. The combined essence of Kyōka Suigetsu and the Hōgyoku is standing calmly off to the side, back facing them as they stare out across the buildings that still breach the surface of the calm waters. Their long black hair is shiny and smooth against their back, their pure white kimono holding almost a headache inducing brightness to it. They were much duller in appearance when they came to him in the past. It is startling to see their indigo eyes glow briefly before they once more turn back to the still water. Ichigo blinks. _Still water?_ He glances around, an eerie feeling falling over him as he takes in the unnatural stillness that surrounds them. His inner world was experiencing what must have classified as a typhoon not mere moments ago, and now it was suddenly as a quiet as a pond on a windless day.

"You must be able to operate in Hueco Mundo, Kurosaki-san," they say, keeping their gaze on the far off horizon of his inner world. "And you cannot do that if you look like yourself. None will have seen this form before, so you should be safe from anyone guessing your true identity."

"So what? I have a 'new' appearance that no one in this time has seen before? What about my name?"

"You have heard of pseudonyms before, have you not Kurosaki-san?" they ask him, turning slightly back to let him see their face, a painted black eyebrow raised to show their amusement.

Ichigo grumbles, embarrassment coloring his cheeks slightly, before he shakes his head, scowl falling across his face. "And what about you? What the hell am I supposed to call you?"

They turn all the way at his question, meeting his gaze with an unflinching resolve that surprises him. "We can not share our name, Kurosaki-san," they reply, giving him an apologetic look. "For our wielder has yet to hear our voice."

"Aizen," Ichigo states matter-of-factly, watching as the zanpakutō spirit before him nods.

"He was ours in the future," they explain, "and he will be ours again."

Ichigo watches them carefully, slowly nodding in understanding as they watch him with an unwavering gaze. "Right."

They smile slightly, breaking their stern visage once more. "However, you make call us Jigōjitoku if you wish. Ji for short."

_As you sow, so you reap_, Ichigo thinks grimly as he watches Aizen's zanpakutō spirit suddenly start to turn opaque in appearance.

Ji grimaces, the ugly expression marring their otherwise porcelain face. A violent gust of wind suddenly knocks into Ichigo, pelting rain assaulting him from behind before it's gone again, Ji's form solid once more. "I can't stay coherent for long," Ji confesses begrudgingly, wincing when their hand almost completely disappears before reappearing again, a howl echoing in the distance. "I used most of my power to get us back here. Listen to me Kurosaki Ichigo: find a way into Aizen's good graces once he comes to rule Hueco Mundo. Be by his side and steer him into a different direction. You have all the pieces, Kurosaki-san; you must simply remember them and put the puzzle together to form a new picture."

"How the hell am I supposed to get close to him? The man doesn't trust anybody!"

"He trusted you at the end, Kurosaki-san."

Ichigo ignores the burning in his chest, waving his arms around to emphasis the impossibility of the assigned task. "That was at the end; when he was dying!"

"So simply make him remember."

"Make him-did he come back in time too?" Ichigo asks, his voice strangled as his heart-rate jumps slightly.

"No," Ji answers, either not noticing or ignoring how Ichigo's face falls, "you must get close enough to him to help him learn what trust is."

"You're still not telling me how to do that!" Ichigo snaps, the strain of the entire situation beginning to way heavily on him.

Ji smiles, not offended in the slightest, as their visage once more begins to fade. "Simply wish for trust when the time is right, Kurosaki-san. Only then will you know what you must do." With a whisper and a brief pause, Ji's ghostly visage is gone. Ichigo reaches up, patting his pocket when the orb still resides, feeling a brief heat there before it once more becomes cold and dormant.

Wind and rain suddenly return, though it is now a light shower being coaxed on by a warm breeze. Ichigo glances over to where Tensa Zangetsu is standing, suddenly realizing that his zanpakutō spirit had abruptly vanished at the beginning of his conversation, only reappearing now with a dark scowl on his young face.

"That was awful," he snaps, eyes burning with repressed emotion as he clutches his sword tightly in his hand.

"What happened?" Ichigo asks, taking a small step away from the irate spirit.

"**_That mangled mess of a zanpakutō spirit banished me_**," Zangetsu hissed, a hollow like echo leaking through his speech as he seethed.

"Banished you?"

"They sent me to the deepest parts of you; a place where you couldn't hear me," Zangetsu admits in disgust, shaking his head as he finally sheathes his sword with a violent jerk.

"They can do that?"

"Apparently," Zangetsu shrugs with a grimace, rolling his shoulders as he visibly starts to calm himself.

"Oh," Ichigo replies simply, not knowing what else to say.

Ji had given him a lot to think about, ideas and half thought-out plans swimming around in his head. According to them, he needed to get close enough to Aizen to gain his trust; then by some miracle, he would suddenly know what to do to get him to listen to Ichigo instead of going through with his previous plans. That wasn't exactly easy though; Aizen trusted no one. Even if what Ji said is true, and Aizen really trusted him at the end of his life, there was no way that Ichigo would let those circumstances rise again. He could never allow Aizen to try and kill that many people in an attempt to gain access to the Soul King Palace when it wasn't even necessary.

_It wasn't necessary, but at this point in time, Aizen doesn't know that._

A spark of an idea entered Ichigo's mind and he bit his lip, concentrating on slowly fanning that spark into a small flame. If Ichigo can get close enough and have his word trusted enough, perhaps he could convince Aizen that there was another way then sacrificing every soul in Karakura Town. It wouldn't stop what Aizen had already done, but perhaps it could prevent Aizen from being imprisoned. If Aizen became the Soul King, the war against the quincy would be fundamentally changed from the very start.

_So_, Ichigo thinks with determination, _he now has a plan: get Aizen on the Soul King's thrown without any unnecessary bloodshed_. He grimaces at the thought. _Because that was going to be so easy; _not_._

* * *

***waves my hand vaguely in a random direction* so that happened. i have a headcanon of Kyōka Suigetsu** **being genderfluid (something that featured more heavily in my fic change;) and when i thought about it, the Hōgyoku probably doesnt have any concepts of gender either. So they will be genderfluid in this story; as of right now, they are feminine presenting, but they use they/them pronouns. that could change when they get aizen to hear their true name. who knows? (me, i do)**

**hope u got some type of enjoyment from this chapter. bye-yuh**


	3. III

**whats up party people! so im back with another chapter. all i can say is im so sorry this took so damn long. ive been struggling with this story for months, trying to figure out how the hell i was going to get to my end goal. after some inspiration one day at work, it started coming together! now i have a basic outline for every chapter, which means i should be able to produce chapters more than once a month! This story should be ~12 chapters, give or take any revisions I make in the future.**

**A general warning for the story following: i play fast and loose with the timeline regarding aizen's betrayal, the Espada joining, and characterization. mostly because ive never read the manga and anime clips from youtube can only tell me so much before im left improvising.**

**having said that, enjoy!**

**Story Summary: **_I__chigo, after bonding with and then losing Aizen, is given the opportunity (aka forced) to go back in time to change what the future has wrought. Time Travel AU - Aizen/Ichigo pre-slash, implied slash. Pining._

**Chapter Summary: **_Ichigo runs into someone who could get him into Las Noches._

* * *

**Seikatsu**

* * *

Ichigo sighs warily, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose tightly as he takes in the scene in front of him. He knows who they are. Wasn't necessarily prepared to run into them so soon in his exploration of Hueco Mundo, but he can't really say he's surprised to have run into an Espada. Coyote Starrk and Lilynette Gingerbuck are certainly not the worst of the Espada he could've run into. Ichigo isn't familiar with them enough to panic when caught off guard by their appearance, so seeing them suddenly as he made his way over the crest of another sand dune isn't particularly heart racing. It could be worse: they could be Grimmjow. Grimacing at the way his stomach knots at the idea of the Sexta Espada, Ichigo keenly watches the duo before him. Starrk is asleep, leaning easily against an outcrop of rocks that seem to be the sparse beginnings of a jagged looking rocky hill. Lilynette, hands on her hips, is pursing her lips and glaring at Starrk's prone form.

"Come on you idiot!" she shouts, foot shooting out to kick Starrk in the stomach. She keeps it wedged there and digs in her boot heel. Ichigo hisses slightly in sympathy, because _ow_, but all he does is manage to gain the young arrancar's attention. Lilynette's head whips around, her eyes narrowing in on Ichigo as he stares dumbly back in return. She holds eye contact for a moment before a gleeful gleam enters her eyes. She turns back towards Starrk and pulls her foot back, taking a step away before winding up and promptly punching the dozing man in the face.

Starrk falls over with a loud groan, the man sprawling along the sand with a pained grumble. "Lilynette..."

"Get up, dumbass! We have company."

Starrk blinks an eye open at that, looking at Lilynette before glancing around the area, finally locking eyes with Ichigo. The man sits up grumpily, huffing as he runs a hand over his head lightly, grimacing when he touches the spot Lilynette's fist collided with.

"Who are you?" Lilynette asks, turning to Ichigo fully and ignoring the grumpily silent Starrk still siting on the ground.

"Who am I?" Ichigo asks stupidly, still staring at the duo in front of him. The thing is, Ichigo knows a little about Starrk's story. Too powerful, too lonely. Only company is an extension of himself. Ichigo knows what loneliness feels like. Knows what it's like to have no one there is talk to. He also knows what it's like to have a part of himself constantly take to violence to get him motivated.

There's a snort from inside his head, a flash of amusement from Tensa Zangetsu, before Ichigo comes back to reality and is confronted with Lilynette's big eyes staring at his suspiciously.

"You stupid or something?" she asks, suspicion in her voice.

"W-What? No! What the hell!?"

"You're the one who doesn't know who he is!" Lilynette screams back, red entering her cheeks as she stares back angrily.

Ichigo blinks, because _fair enough_, before he shakes himself out of his stupor. _Fuck it_, he thinks, before replying, "I'm Futatabi."

There's a disbelieving snort from his zanpakutō, a grumbled "_Seriously?_" before he goes quiet again, leaving Ichigo alone.

"That's a dumb name," Lilynette offers snottily before turning to grin at Starrk. "Let's keep him!"

"Keep me?" Ichigo asks incredulous, confusion coloring his face as he glares at Lilynette's cheerful face.

"You don't have any Fracción," Lilynette tells Starrk, grinning merrily at the sitting Espada. "He can be one! He doesn't even look bothered in our presence!"

Starrk watches Ichigo with interest, taking in his gaping appearance and seemingly coming to the same conclusion as Lilynette. "You have to feed him and take him for walks."

"I'm not a dog!" Ichigo shouts, yelping when Lilynette is suddenly on him, clinging tightly to his torso.

"We have so many people for you to meet, Futatabi-kun!"

Ichigo stares down at her, lost.

Ichigo follows them, because at this point, what else is he supposed to do? They don't explain anything to him, they don't even properly introduced themselves to him. They leave and they expect him to follow, so with nothing else going for him, Ichigo follows and uses the opportunity that has been given to him. Because while he thinks the two clearly have a screw loose, they're his ticket to getting into Las Noches. He could go on his own, of course, but he can admit it might be suspicious. There are plenty of arrancar running around, but Ichigo needs close to Aizen. He'd have to work his way up the ranks, gaining attention before he has any solid plans. At least this way he gains access immediately without having to do much of anything.

"She sort of just forced you to come with us," Starrk says suddenly, having dropped back to walk beside Ichigo's hunched form.

"I don't mind," Ichigo confesses, watching Lilynette happily march ahead of them. "I know what loneliness is like. Once you find a companion, you cling to them."

His words get him a sharp look from Starrk and Ichigo is once more aware of how stupid he is. Ichigo knows things about plenty of different people. Some he learned through second hand accounts, like Starrk's desire to never be alone, and others he learned from first hand experience (the cloying desperation radiating from Aizen as he died in Ichigo's arms haunts him). He was there; however, he's in the past. Letting it slip that Ichigo's knows Starrk's motivations for anything is incredibly dumb because to Starrk, they've never even met.

"Loneliness?" Starrk asks, finally breaking the tense silence.

"Hidden desires," Ichigo blurts out, taken aback by his own voice.

Starrk raises an eyebrow as they continue to follow after Lilynette, still ignorant to the conversation taking place behind her.

"I can get a...feeling of someone's deepest desire. Yours is to never be lonely again," Ichigo offers, bullshitting. He knows that the Espada all have a form of death that they rule over. Ichigo can make an easily educated guess that Starrk's is something like loneliness of isolation. It's a little more difficult to convince anyone that Ichigo, some random arrancar, also holds some dominion over something, but it's all he has. If Starrk believes him, believes that Ichigo has an ability similar to the Espada's affiliation with death, then Ichigo has a convenient excuse whenever he says something about someone that he shouldn't know.

"Huh," is all Starrk replies, dropping the issue just like that. Ichigo has to steadily let out a breath, ignoring the burning in his lungs and the sweat collected on his forehead.

"We're here!" Lilynette shouts excitedly, making Ichigo tense slightly.

He forcibly makes himself relax before he turns slowly to look at the huge white buildings in front of him. Ichigo holds his breath for a moment, taking in the sight, before he hesitantly reaches out with his reiatsu, not sure what he's hoping to find. When he does a quick pass, the breath leaves his chest along with the hope. Aizen Sōsuke wasn't currently in Las Noches. Disappointed, but not surprised at his luck, Ichigo turned to the two beside him and asked, "So what exactly am I supposed to do here?"

Happy to explain, Lilynette led them into Las Noches, touching briefly on what exactly a Fracción was, though Ichigo already knew. He nodded along, hummed when it was needed, and kept his eyes out as they meandered through the identical halls of Las Noches.

"Starrk!" a gruff voice shouted, a biting snarl that made the hair on the back of Ichigo's neck stand up. Almost not ready for it, Ichigo turned his head slightly and took in the Espada the voice belonged to.

Grimmjow looked much the same as Ichigo remembers him, though it was a bit odd seeing him in his Espada uniform rather than the clothes he had been wearing when Ichigo saw him last. Another thing that shocked him was seeing Grimmjow with only _one arm_. It was startling to see. Ichigo has to wrack his brain, briefly, before his memories give him an answer. He remembers now, right before Orihime let with Ulquiorra, fighting Grimmjow while the Sexta Espada only had one arm. While the sight was unpleasant, it did give Ichigo a good idea on where he had landed in his own past. Now if only-

"Hey, Starrk! I'm talking to you! Have you seen that bastard Ulquiorra?"

"No," Starrk responds with a yawn, nonchalance clearly getting on Grimmjow's nerves as the bluenette stops in front of their trio.

"Lazy bastard," Grimmjow snarks. "Listen, if you see him or Yammy, tell them they've been summoned. I already had to find Wonderweiss and fucking _Luppi_. I'm not a damn messenger!" With those parting words, Grimmjow stalks away, never once looking in Ichigo's direction.

"Loudmouth," Lilynette grumbles, also having been ignored by Grimmjow.

"You're one to talk," Starrk shoots back lazily, not even bothering to dodge the punch to his arm.

"Come on, Futatabi," Lilynette says, turning aware from scowling at Starrk to grin at Ichigo. "Let's get you some new clothes!"

Ichigo follows absentmindedly, thoughts circling around their brief meeting with Grimmjow. He has a pretty good idea on what the Sexta Espada was going to be doing soon. After he lost his arm, and his position for that matter, the man had been sent on an assignment to Karakura Town with a couple others. Orihime would be approached and then convinced to leave soon after. Which means that he's managed to land himself right at the beginning of the war against Aizen. He couldn't stop Orihime from coming to Las Noches, not with such short notice and exactly zero idea on how to even go about trying, so he would just have to protect her while she was here. Ichigo's past self would eventually come to retrieve her and Ichigo would help as much as he was capable of without being called out on his actions.

For now, Ichigo listened as Lilynette and Starrk bickered, both of them mostly ignoring Ichigo's presence. _Yeah_, Ichigo thinks with growing amusement, _he could be stuck with worse._

* * *

**let me tell you, i really hate this chapter, like a lot, but it was necessary to set up ichigo as being able to move around las noches. pffft **


End file.
